The Federal Trade Commission says just three big companies control 80 percent of prescription drug pricing. Minnesota-based Optum RX, CVS Caremark and Express Scripts are now accused of marking up prices. Prescription benefit managers have been under growing scrutiny from state and federal regulators who have accused them of creating pharmacy deserts by steering consumers to their own pharmacies and driving independent pharmacists out of business.

Pharmacy benefit managers, which serve as the middlemen between drug makers, insurers and pharmacies, reaped $7.3 billion in revenue from marking up the prices of dozens of specialty generic drugs between 2017 and 2022, the Federal Trade Commission said in an interim report issued Tuesday. The practice came at a time when spending on drugs by patients, employers, insurers and others rose significantly. The nation’s three largest PBMs – CVS Health’s Caremark, Cigna’s Express Scripts and UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx – inflated the prices of drugs dispensed at their affiliated...

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For the second time in less than a year, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has released a highly critical report of pharmacy benefit managers, which play a crucial but opaque role in the pharmaceutical supply chain. And the findings may provide further impetus for legislative action to curb practices that critics say contribute to the rising cost of prescription drugs. The latest report accuses the PBMs — CVS Caremark, OptumRx, and Express Scripts, all of which are owned by large health insurers — of boosting prices of specialty generic drugs...

The nation's three largest pharmacy benefit managers have significantly marked up the prices of certain medicines, including for heart disease, cancer and HIV, at their affiliated pharmacies, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday. From 2017 to 2022, the companies — UnitedHealth Group's Optum, CVS Health's CVS Caremark and Cigna's Express Scripts — marked up prices at their affiliated pharmacies by hundreds or thousands of percent, netting them $7.3 billion in revenue in excess of the acquisition costs of the drugs, the FTC said in its second report on the...

The World Anti-Doping Agency is the body that is supposed to test and verify that athletes around the world are not cheating in major competitions like the Olympics. Most of the group's funding comes from the United States. On his way out the door, President Biden is withholding the US contribution. “WADA must take concrete actions to restore trust in the world antidoping system and provide athletes the full confidence they deserve,” the White House said in a statement released late on Tuesday. “When U.S. taxpayer dollars are allocated, we...

Patients would pay no more than $25 for certain name-brand medications to treat chronic illnesses, including insulin for diabetes, and face no costs whatsoever for similar generic options under a compromise bill that the House and Senate whisked to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk on Monday. The bill that came out of months of private talks late Friday would also add scrutiny to pharmacy benefit managers and eliminate or cap out-of-pocket costs for drugs that treat certain chronic conditions. The branches sent the bill to Healey with just one day remaining...

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A new study by Tel Aviv University reveals how bacterial defense mechanisms can be neutralized, enabling the efficient transfer of genetic material between bacteria. The researchers believe this discovery could pave the way for developing tools to address the antibiotic resistance crisis and promote more effective genetic manipulation methods for medical, industrial, and environmental purposes.

I first met Tracey when she was admitted to the hospital for incessant diarrhea and dehydration from an inflammatory bowel disease flareup. As I pieced together her story from her chart, I learned she’d been battling Crohn’s disease for years, a journey initially marked by repeated emergency room visits, hospital stays and rounds of steroids. Starting a biologic medication had been transformative; on paper, it had wiped her chart clean of any further hospitalizations. Outpatient notes celebrated her ability to regain control over her life, return to work and enjoy...